The Art of the Journal

By
Thomas Ott

August 3, 2018 - 6 minutes read - 1081 words

Updated!

Journals. A book with blank pages that conjures up creative ideas and resolutions to write in them. Too bad the majority of people fail at using them! It takes time and dedication for you to actually leverage the power of a journal, so why write about it here? Why write about journaling in a Beer/Wine making lifestyle type of blog? Simple, you should record what you do, how you do it, and even who you do it with for brewing, tasting, and even traveling!

What is not measured, is not optimized!

Journals are great and I have two of them. One is my classic analog hardcover Moleskine that I use for work/life tasks and notes and the other is my brew log. My brew log is a digital ledger on Brewers Friend where I store my craftbeer recipes and brew sessions. I make it a point to update my journals when needed. My work/life journal gets updated daily and my brew log when I brew or need to record when fermentation ends.

Why are these entries important? Because they are great records or clues for what you did in the past. For work/life, its figuring out what I did so I can bill clients. For beer brewing its about how and why I deviated from a recipe and what the results where. Did I end up making a better beer because I changed the mash schedule up? Does the beer taste better because the hops alpha acids were stronger or weaker.

You will NEVER get better at something if you don’t measure it. That includes brewing!

Invest in Journaling, NOW!

Why do I say “invest in Journaling?” Because it takes a bit of time now that will pay off later. Writing a journal entry can take anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour. It all depends on what you type of entry your writing. For the most part, it takes only 5 to 10 minutes to write or post an entry.

The benefit of journaling occurs after you’ve done it for some time. It happens when have a stack of filled out journals or a bunch of blog posts somewhere. The value of journaling happens when you want to look back into the past and remember the details.

We remember in general our trip to Europe or a great tasting wine but we forget the details that made them great. Photos help with the details but they often don't capture everything. I have a great photo of my Dad drinking a Kriek beer at the Cantillion Brewery in Brussels.

What the photo misses is the great walk we had through the city to get to the brewery. It missed conversations we had with a couple from Oklahoma. It missed their story on how they wanted to start brewing when they got home from their European trip. How they wanted to maybe start a business. It missed the sites, sounds, and smells of this European city. It missed the finer details that only I can recall now by looking at my journal.

One day you will get old and your memory will no longer be as good as it was that day. You owe it to yourself to write it down and relive the past in it’s most splendid/sorrid/breathtaking glory.

Get started Journaling!

Getting started with Journaling is easy and you don't need to buy a fancy journal! You can use a loose leaf ring binder or go to Staples to get a cheap bound one. If you want to go the digital route, you can use write type into a text file or start a blog. Analog or digital journaling is inexpensive these days, so pick your medium and go for it.

Once you decided your type of journal (i.e. analog and hardcover bound), then you have to decide what you want to record. Below is a great video on how powerful journaling is when you make it a routine.

Beer Tasting Journal

If you like to go to brewpubs, craft breweries or love new beers, a Beer Tasting journal is a must. You can design your own layout if you want but Moleskine has a great PDF template that you can use to experiment with. They also sell a pre-made journal that's based off this template for about $18.

You’ll need to bring this journal when ever you go beer tasting, just make sure not spill any beer on it! :)

Wine Tasting Journal

Another great idea is to start a wine tasting journal! This type of journal is great to put in your glovebox when you drive around a wine growing region. You can get a pre-made Wine Tasting Journal on Amazon too for under $10.

Travel Journal

Some people like to make a travel journal where they put their entire trips into them. That would include food, drinks, sites, sounds, etc. This makes more sense to me because you can capture one entire trip (or many) in one journal. I haven't done this religiously yet but I think I will start once I go to China again this year. I am considering getting a Midori journal for travel because they're made of soft leather and appear to be highly customizable. They are a bit more expensive ($32) but you can refill them over and over again.

The Everything Journal

This is where I default too. I use my journal for everything! Mostly work but for my life as well. I create a health tracker, lists, notes, etc. I slap things together, its messy and at times very chaotic BUT it has dates and page numbers. I started making index so I can find things faster.

The Everything Journal is just that, you can put everything you want into it. This guy’s video shows how he breaks up his $10 journal. That works for him and your journal should work for you.